This year parent/teacher conferences and State testing hit at the same time. Talk about crazy times!! This is also where the exceptional needs teams gets slammed with referrals. In Colorado, Dyslexia falls under a Learning Disability where I have 8 different categories  (Basic Reading Skills, Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension,Written Expression, Calculation, Problem Solving, Oral Expression and Listening.Comprehension) to work with. I came across this information from the The International Dyslexia Association Ontario Branch, which highlights things that both teachers and parents can look for:

Reading Difficulties

• Learning sounds of letters
• Separating words into sounds
• Slow and inaccurate reading
• Poor reading comprehension
• Oral Language Difficulties
• Delayed spoken language
• Misinterpretation of language that is heard
• Lack of awareness of different sounds in words and rhymes
• Organizing thoughts

Writing Difficulties

• Organization of ideas
• Poor spelling
• Poor letter formation and spatial organization

Mathematics Difficulties

• Memorizing math facts
• Correct sequencing of steps when solving problems
• Transposing digits within numbers

For me determining if a student has a learning disability is much more difficult than looking for these things but also looking at how the student is doing in a targeted intervention and how they look compared to their grade level peers. This is the time of year where many conversations take place as to whether to refer or not. In my mind its better to refer when in doubt than to not. Even if student does not have a disability that information can be used to create stronger programming. Have a great weekend.